IIM Sambalpur Hosts National Digital Library Workshop to Empower Library Professionals of Odisha

Sambalpur: IIM Sambalpur one of the premier management Institutions, successfully organized a one-day “National Digital Library workshop” under the theme “Exploring NDLI: Empowering Librarians with the Key to Digital Knowledge” in collaboration with National Digital Library of India and IIT Kharagpur. The workshop aims to empower library professionals from all parts of Odisha.

The National Digital Library of India (NDLI), sponsored by the Ministry of Education and designed by IIT Kharagpur, is a single point of access digital repository providing access to a wide variety of learning material on disciplines and academic levels. NDLI supports several Indian languages and is accessible to differently-abled learners, enabling learners, researchers, and educators with easy-to-use access to worldwide knowledge.

IIM Sambalpur Library is a 24/7 digital knowledge centre, providing access to cutting-edge premier digital resources like ABI Informs, ACM Digital Library, Elsevier Science Direct, Springer Nature, Scopus, Bloomberg, and Capital IQ, in addition to thousands of books, journals, and research databases. Combined, these platforms form a dynamic, tech-driven learning and research environment for the students of IIM Sambalpur.

The event witnessed the presence of distinguished guests including, Prof. (Dr) Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur as Chief Guest; Prof. (Dr) Ramakrushna Padhy, Operations Management, Library Committee Chairperson, IIM Sambalpur as Guest of Honour; Dr S. Kannan, Librarian, IIM Sambalpur as Organizing Head; Dr B. Sutradhar, Joint Principal Investigator, National Digital Library of India; Librarian Central Library IIT Kharagpur as Resource Person; and Mr. Dubbendu Chakrabarty, Outreach Manager NDLI Club, along with more than 100 librarians and library professionals from government and private schools, colleges and universities from all parts of Odisha, participated in this significant program.

Chief Guest Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur in his inaugural address said, “Open access to digital knowledge is crucial for inclusive education. In today’s digital era, access to research publications, case studies, and databases often comes at a high cost, making them unaffordable for many institutions, especially in countries like India. As a result, valuable knowledge remains limited to elite institutions. I strongly support this open access initiative, intellectual resources should be shared on a no-profit, no-loss basis to ensure inclusive and equitable education for all. We wholeheartedly endorse this movement. IIM Sambalpur, is also launching the Global Case Capability Centre (GCCC) very soon, to offer free, AI-powered access to case studies and research from around the world, making knowledge no longer exclusive to elite institutions.”

While addressing the participants, Resource Person Dr B. Sutradhar, Joint Principal Investigator, National Digital Library of India; Librarian Central Library IIT Kharagpur mentioned, importance of digital library and guided how to explore digital library. He also talked about current scenario of NDLI and how to use this free resource for the benefit of larger user community.

The program featured with technical sessions on NDLI For Young Reading Habits and Beyond by Dr B. Sutradhar, Bring the Knowledge Gap: The Role of NDLI Club in Education by Mr. Dubbendu Chakrabarty & Open Access Resources & Contributions of India to the OAR, taken by Dr S. Kannan.